gym help/weight loss
Discussion
Hello,
Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
Sounds like you're not too far off.
Take some measurements and photos, then compare them in a month.
As suggested above, weight is not always the best measure. If your waist is going down and your chest up then you're heading in the right direction.
Looking in the mirror is fine, but it's difficult to spot the changes as you see yourself so regularly - that's why the 'before' photos are helpful.
Keep up the good work.
Take some measurements and photos, then compare them in a month.
As suggested above, weight is not always the best measure. If your waist is going down and your chest up then you're heading in the right direction.
Looking in the mirror is fine, but it's difficult to spot the changes as you see yourself so regularly - that's why the 'before' photos are helpful.
Keep up the good work.
CpnSpankyPantz said:
Hello,
Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
Doing a bit of weights with cardio is not a bad thing, but if you have up'd your CV and started resistance and still not loosing weight then you need to be honest about how many calories you are consuming. It may be that you, (like me), eat that bit extra as a 'reward' for working out. Which is fine if you want to slowly convert fat to muscle, but not much use if you want to really loose weight. It would be worth noting down what you consume in a typical day (the mars bars add up)!Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
Regarding the weights, if you want to do it properly then you need to seperate the body into particular areas (Chest/arms, back/core, legs) and train them twice a week. If you finding it hard then good for you as you're putting the effort in, but make sure it is with good form, if not, drop the weights for a bit until you develop.
And if you want to trim up faster, then it will take a bit of extra work, so consider introducing swimming or cycling in addtion to your current routine.
Your diet looks good.
Your routine looks okay-ish. I prefer to target muscles groups specifically and do cardio on a different day. If you do cardio before weights, you will be tired and therefore ineffective. But this is personal preference really.
My main piece of advice would be to vary your routine, as your body very quickly adapts. Look up "super sets" as a change to your weight routine. Maybe swap round the order that you do your cardio... that sort of thing.
Your routine looks okay-ish. I prefer to target muscles groups specifically and do cardio on a different day. If you do cardio before weights, you will be tired and therefore ineffective. But this is personal preference really.
My main piece of advice would be to vary your routine, as your body very quickly adapts. Look up "super sets" as a change to your weight routine. Maybe swap round the order that you do your cardio... that sort of thing.
JFReturns said:
Your diet looks good.
Your routine looks okay-ish. I prefer to target muscles groups specifically and do cardio on a different day. If you do cardio before weights, you will be tired and therefore ineffective. But this is personal preference really.
My main piece of advice would be to vary your routine, as your body very quickly adapts. Look up "super sets" as a change to your weight routine. Maybe swap round the order that you do your cardio... that sort of thing.
Cool, thanks for that. Am constantly trying different moves which I see other people do, and I think once I've got a bit more in the way of strength will target muscle groups, should ask a gym person to recommend specific exercises Your routine looks okay-ish. I prefer to target muscles groups specifically and do cardio on a different day. If you do cardio before weights, you will be tired and therefore ineffective. But this is personal preference really.
My main piece of advice would be to vary your routine, as your body very quickly adapts. Look up "super sets" as a change to your weight routine. Maybe swap round the order that you do your cardio... that sort of thing.
Exact same as when I started out hitting the gym.
At 15ish stone and 5ft 10 I was over weight and cut out all the redbull and Irn Bru in my life (5 cans of Irn Bru at day at that point!) and started hitting the gym for 30mins cardio and some supersets 3-4 times a week. First 2-3 weeks lost bugger all but did notice a bit of a shape change. I'm now ~15kgs lighter despite doing next to no exercise (in fact, I'm doing none at all now outside the occasional wander in to town) and watching what I eat. Starting a new push now to get down to 75kg, but dont want any muscle mass, purely shedding remaining fat so all about kicking the bru & bull thats crept in to my diet again and a bit of light weight training and cardio.
Watch the mirror, not the scales for a few weeks and you'll see you're achieving something.
At 15ish stone and 5ft 10 I was over weight and cut out all the redbull and Irn Bru in my life (5 cans of Irn Bru at day at that point!) and started hitting the gym for 30mins cardio and some supersets 3-4 times a week. First 2-3 weeks lost bugger all but did notice a bit of a shape change. I'm now ~15kgs lighter despite doing next to no exercise (in fact, I'm doing none at all now outside the occasional wander in to town) and watching what I eat. Starting a new push now to get down to 75kg, but dont want any muscle mass, purely shedding remaining fat so all about kicking the bru & bull thats crept in to my diet again and a bit of light weight training and cardio.
Watch the mirror, not the scales for a few weeks and you'll see you're achieving something.
CpnSpankyPantz said:
Hello,
Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
what age are you...Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
i'm 5'11 and 20 yr old. anyhow at xmas 08 i was 123kg, xmas 09 i was 72kg (far too skinny), but now im 80kg and hoping to get to around 82-3kg by building muscle...
anyhow, if you stick to that you will definitely lose weight like i did... problem was i cut too much but more importantly i cut out a load of my protein... lost a load of strength, then fitness...
my advice is swap some of the fruit for a tin of tuna or cottage cheese; just some good high protein foods... or, if you can't afford those (because i can't) buy a big 5kg tub of protein (£40) which will last you months and have a shake instead of a banana for instance. you would be surprised how filling they are and will definitely help you out in the gym.
jimbobsimmonds said:
CpnSpankyPantz said:
Hello,
Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
what age are you...Just trying to get an idea if what I'm doing is right - I'm 6ft1 and a bit on the porky side at 15st. I joined the gym about a month ago and much to my surprise I'm "above average fitness", funny stuff, as bar a kick about with my friends and some mountain biking I wouldn't say I'm particularly athletic!
So anyways, since joining I've watched what I eat a typical day starts with :
oats + 1 weetabix at 7am,
a banana at about 10am, l
unch either a ham salad sandwich with v light mayo, or pasta with veg and chicken or lean mince (on gym days) at about 12.30,
an orange or pear at about 3/4ish,
and another banana about 5.30 on gym days, then gym then an omlette with tomatoes, mushrooms and veg, on none gym days something like spicy wraps with lettuce cucumber tomatoes that kinda stuff.
Weekends I tend to go out and have a few jars one night and thats that.
Gym wise I do about 30 minutes on cardio
then onto weights for about 35-45 minutes doing the machines once a week (upper body)
then next time I do legs
then next time I do freeweights, and i go 3x a week.
I do 3 reps of 10 or 12 at a weight whereby the last few in each rep tend to hurt increasingly!
I also cycle on some weekends, about 30ish miles at a guess.
But I've not lost any weight. Admittedly it's only been a month, but am I doing something wrong?
i'm 5'11 and 20 yr old. anyhow at xmas 08 i was 123kg, xmas 09 i was 72kg (far too skinny), but now im 80kg and hoping to get to around 82-3kg by building muscle...
anyhow, if you stick to that you will definitely lose weight like i did... problem was i cut too much but more importantly i cut out a load of my protein... lost a load of strength, then fitness...
my advice is swap some of the fruit for a tin of tuna or cottage cheese; just some good high protein foods... or, if you can't afford those (because i can't) buy a big 5kg tub of protein (£40) which will last you months and have a shake instead of a banana for instance. you would be surprised how filling they are and will definitely help you out in the gym.
I lost a load of weight when I lived in London, and just pretty much wasn't eating properly, although cycling 150 miles a week, I went down to 12st10, but I still looked s
te so I'm guessing it was muscle (I'm not a self-hating anorexic wannabe by the way!), so this time I want to do it but properly! I'm not so arsed about "weight" just losing fat and toning a touch I reckon!As I go to the gym with my flatmates (one of which wants to bulk up and is quite slim/fit, the other is in a similar boat to me) we were debating the shake route, but t'interweb seems to be full of conflicting information, and I get confused! I thought a shake was a best post workout, but I/we tend to eat within an hour of our gym time being over, but as I'm not sure I'm all ears
Also, thought it may be worth mentioning because running/cross training/cycling/rowing can get a tad boring once a week we play about an hour of squash for cardio!
the internet is full of crap regarding shakes (most of them are trying to sell you something) but simple fact is that in order to build muscle you need to have surplus protein; and to lose fat you need a calorie deficit... the reason people advise keeping protein inside you every 3 hours or so is that the body cannot store it (except in muscle) so it is either used for repair or for energy.... but if you are running a calorie deficit your body will seek easy fuel, and once your glycogen reserves are gone your body will break down muscle as well as fat for fuel (basically the trap i fell into)...
my advice (and one of the few universaly accepted things) is get a small carb/protein meal in you about 45 minutes before you go then have a shake as soon as you finish (within 20 minutes preferably) because the body within this stage is like a sponge for amino acids, and as good as food is very few foods are as biologically available (ie straight into blood) as a shake... eating an hour or so after is also highly recommended on top of your shake...
also, a progress report... 83kg @ 18%bf to 76kg @ 12% in 3 weeks... time to start eating some more now...
just try to stay around 2000 calories a day
my advice (and one of the few universaly accepted things) is get a small carb/protein meal in you about 45 minutes before you go then have a shake as soon as you finish (within 20 minutes preferably) because the body within this stage is like a sponge for amino acids, and as good as food is very few foods are as biologically available (ie straight into blood) as a shake... eating an hour or so after is also highly recommended on top of your shake...
also, a progress report... 83kg @ 18%bf to 76kg @ 12% in 3 weeks... time to start eating some more now...
just try to stay around 2000 calories a day
jimbobsimmonds said:
the internet is full of crap regarding shakes (most of them are trying to sell you something) but simple fact is that in order to build muscle you need to have surplus protein; and to lose fat you need a calorie deficit... the reason people advise keeping protein inside you every 3 hours or so is that the body cannot store it (except in muscle) so it is either used for repair or for energy.... but if you are running a calorie deficit your body will seek easy fuel, and once your glycogen reserves are gone your body will break down muscle as well as fat for fuel (basically the trap i fell into)...
my advice (and one of the few universaly accepted things) is get a small carb/protein meal in you about 45 minutes before you go then have a shake as soon as you finish (within 20 minutes preferably) because the body within this stage is like a sponge for amino acids, and as good as food is very few foods are as biologically available (ie straight into blood) as a shake... eating an hour or so after is also highly recommended on top of your shake...
also, a progress report... 83kg @ 18%bf to 76kg @ 12% in 3 weeks... time to start eating some more now...
just try to stay around 2000 calories a day
Cool thanks for that...my advice (and one of the few universaly accepted things) is get a small carb/protein meal in you about 45 minutes before you go then have a shake as soon as you finish (within 20 minutes preferably) because the body within this stage is like a sponge for amino acids, and as good as food is very few foods are as biologically available (ie straight into blood) as a shake... eating an hour or so after is also highly recommended on top of your shake...
also, a progress report... 83kg @ 18%bf to 76kg @ 12% in 3 weeks... time to start eating some more now...
just try to stay around 2000 calories a day
Any recommendations of what protein shakes? That too is a minefield...!
Brother D said:
Regarding the weights, if you want to do it properly then you need to seperate the body into particular areas (Chest/arms, back/core, legs) and train them twice a week.
6 weight sessions a week?! i hope im interpreting that wrongi agree with targeting different areas like this but i'd stick to 3 weight sessions a week (chest & tris, back & bis, legs)
also if you're looking to gain strength but not too fussed on muscle mass then id suggest doing lower reps i.e. 5 sets of 5
when i had similar goals to you my routine consisted of 45mins unfuelled cardio mon-fri and the 3 weight sessions mon,wed,fri in the evenings.
samdale said:
Brother D said:
Regarding the weights, if you want to do it properly then you need to seperate the body into particular areas (Chest/arms, back/core, legs) and train them twice a week.
6 weight sessions a week?! i hope im interpreting that wrongi agree with targeting different areas like this but i'd stick to 3 weight sessions a week (chest & tris, back & bis, legs)
also if you're looking to gain strength but not too fussed on muscle mass then id suggest doing lower reps i.e. 5 sets of 5
when i had similar goals to you my routine consisted of 45mins unfuelled cardio mon-fri and the 3 weight sessions mon,wed,fri in the evenings.
spoke to a few of the PTs down the gym and essentially they recommended all body work out 3 to 4 days a week for the first 6 months and then when you know what you want to achieve then start thinking about split routines...
not that starting with splits would do any harm but they said getting your body working at its natural peak will be beneficial to splits... don't run before you can walk i believe was the general jist of it...
as for protein shakes... i buy a plain whey (cos it takes like milk) to have in my porridge and nutrisport 90+ i take in the evening after training. it is a whey (fast action) and casein (slow action) mix so ideal for taking before bed and after training...
not that starting with splits would do any harm but they said getting your body working at its natural peak will be beneficial to splits... don't run before you can walk i believe was the general jist of it...
as for protein shakes... i buy a plain whey (cos it takes like milk) to have in my porridge and nutrisport 90+ i take in the evening after training. it is a whey (fast action) and casein (slow action) mix so ideal for taking before bed and after training...
Brother D said:
samdale said:
Brother D said:
Regarding the weights, if you want to do it properly then you need to seperate the body into particular areas (Chest/arms, back/core, legs) and train them twice a week.
6 weight sessions a week?! i hope im interpreting that wrongi agree with targeting different areas like this but i'd stick to 3 weight sessions a week (chest & tris, back & bis, legs)
also if you're looking to gain strength but not too fussed on muscle mass then id suggest doing lower reps i.e. 5 sets of 5
when i had similar goals to you my routine consisted of 45mins unfuelled cardio mon-fri and the 3 weight sessions mon,wed,fri in the evenings.
6 cardio sessions a week along with 3 weight sessions would be more than enough. the amount of weight sessions you suggest along with a decent diet for losing weight (couple of 100 calories deficit) would leave him really fatigued and risking injury imo
samdale said:
Brother D said:
samdale said:
Brother D said:
Regarding the weights, if you want to do it properly then you need to seperate the body into particular areas (Chest/arms, back/core, legs) and train them twice a week.
6 weight sessions a week?! i hope im interpreting that wrongi agree with targeting different areas like this but i'd stick to 3 weight sessions a week (chest & tris, back & bis, legs)
also if you're looking to gain strength but not too fussed on muscle mass then id suggest doing lower reps i.e. 5 sets of 5
when i had similar goals to you my routine consisted of 45mins unfuelled cardio mon-fri and the 3 weight sessions mon,wed,fri in the evenings.
6 cardio sessions a week along with 3 weight sessions would be more than enough. the amount of weight sessions you suggest along with a decent diet for losing weight (couple of 100 calories deficit) would leave him really fatigued and risking injury imo
but i am on a very high protein diet with a 300 cal deficit (trying to lean up without losing muscle, going very well) and have not noticed any loss in strength and am continuing to gain the strength i lost on holiday when i was on a split routine... the fact i am 20 and don't get the aches and pains should be taken into account; and i do not kill myself in the gym; i train for an hour at a time...
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